1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for providing parental control preferences, and more particularly to a system and method for providing parental control preferences that may be applied to any Internet application such that child users may view and/or register for their services.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Children today have never known a world without the Internet. Children see their friends interacting and playing online and there is ever-increasing pressure on parents from their children to allow the children to be online. In numerous instances, children are not protected by media companies and are being placed in the extreme danger posed by online predators. Until measures are taken to provide a secure online environment for younger age groups, the online safety of children is compromised.
Generally, parental control systems fall under one of two categories. First, active parental control systems prevent a child from accessing information that the parent does not want them to access. For example, active parental control systems include programs such as hardware and software firewalls as well as hardware access controls tools or systems that prevent certain types of data from being presented to a user. Second, passive parental control systems allow parents to audit information that their children have been accessing and activities that their children engaged in while they were online, on a computer system, or on a managed or unmanaged network. For example, passive parental control systems include systems that audit user access and activity information in managed and unmanaged networks and present this information to parents.
With the increased penetration of the Internet, parents are more interested in knowing what their children are doing when they use a computer, including the websites they visit and the individuals with whom they are communicating. While active and passive controls help parents manage and control some of this information, there are no provisions for parents to control the types of services their children may sign up for on the web. Sign-up is a common step with web-based applications and Internet enabled desktop applications. The sign-up process allows users to register for services provided by web-based and Internet enabled desktop applications.
Active and passive parental control systems do not provide any support for being able to communicate and enforce parental preferences when it comes to sign-up of services on web-based and Internet enabled desktop applications. Broad classifications, such as Entertainment Software Rating Board (“ESRB”) ratings, do not provide parents with the level of control they would like with respect to sign-up preferences for the children.
Very restrictive active and passive parental control systems, when used as a means of controlling the types of services children can access, will hamper the user experience for children and in many cases incorrectly restrict access to legitimate safe websites. For example, active control rules that prevent children from accessing sites that talk about words like “war” or “sex” could prevent children from accessing sites that present historical information about military wars or educational services that provide a lesson in biology as per an accepted curriculum. Without the ability to control context around words, such a mechanism would fail.